Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 78% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Shelby House, the Immaculate Conception Rectory at Botkins and the Botkins Elementary School. Below: maps from 1913 on and the census since 1880.
Botkins dates its founding to 1858 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 78% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Botkins is more historic than 78% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
Ohio towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Ohio town has 2.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Botkins’ 31.4 sits above most of its state (84% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 3 listings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Botkins’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Botkins. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Botkins.
From Wikipedia’s history of Botkins.
Botkins was platted in 1858, and named for Richard Botkin, the original owner of the town site. A post office called Botkins has been in operation since 1877. The village was incorporated in 1881.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Botkins, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Roman Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception, Botkins, Ohio. — The history of this congregation dates back more than six decades, when a few Roman Catholic families settled in the vicinity of the present town of Botkins. They were all German immigrants, and hence possessed but scanty means wherewith they might contribute toward the erection of a church, and the support of a pastor. Missionaries, however, came at regular intervals from surrounding well-settled communities, and provided for the spiritual wants of their poor brethren. Divine service was held at first in
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Botkins draws trade from a large section of the rich farming country and the freight and express business at the station is very large. Frank Hemmert, the genial station agent who learned telegraphy thirty-five years ago in the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyThe country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 314 and 1,372 people in every census since 1880.
14 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Botkins’ Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Botkins itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Botkins’s post office has been open since 1877. Another post office, Dinsmore, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
In 1858, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Botkins’ post office opened in 1837, and the census of 1880 counted 314 people here.
Botkins is more historic than 78% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Three places: the Shelby House (listed 1978), the Immaculate Conception Rectory at Botkins (1979) and the Botkins Elementary School (1979).
34% of Botkins’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±12.7 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1959.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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